Gender-Neutral Retail – Does it Have a Future?

Angela Rumsey 02.17.15

SBTUOSRI N
E ESSTSR A T E G Y RETAIL

GENDER-NEUTRAL RETAIL: DOES IT HAVE A FUTURE?

DOES SELFRIDGES' BACKING OF A GENDER-NEUTRAL APPAREL SPACE IN-STORE POINT TO A NEW WAY
OF NAVIGATING FOR MAINSTREAM FASHION RETAILERS?

ANALYSIS
Gender-neutral retail space is a tried-and-tested formula for non-apparel retailers.
Within apparel, Selfridges is to launch Agender, an eight-week initiative that will see
the department store devote space across three floors to unisex product

Although a trial for now, it raises questions of whether this way of merchandising
and shopping could take hold long-term as a navigational tool

Consumer attitudes towards ideas previously considered challenging and ‘other’ are
changing, as the Millennial generation wield greater influence

For mainstream retailers, the practicalities and economics of gender-neutral space

are unlikely to stack up. But more open attitudes demand more open navigation

Performance sport serves as a counterpoint and there is recognition that men and
women are shaped differently, with a focus on feature-benefits over style
Gender-neutral brand Suwun's London pop-up

Nicopanda Rad Hourani Andrej Pejic

Androgyny and unisex are themes we first highlighted in 2011 and ideas fashion has been exploring for a while now, with labels such as JW Anderson in the UK, JNBY in China,
and a new generation of graduating fashion designers driving the trend. This, coupled with sportswear-inspired looser-fitting styles, has led to a growth in cross-gender design at
the influential directional premium level of the market.

Within retail, socially aware UK department store Selfridges has taken up the gauntlet with its recently announced Agender initiative. For eight weeks from March 12, the retailer
will devote space across three floors of its London flagship to gender-neutrality, featuring unisex product curated from labels it carries, such as Yohji Yamamoto and Rad Hourani,
along with five exclusive unisex collections and the launch of designer Nicola Formichetti's Nicopanda in the UK.

Agender will run over three floors around the atrium, with a bold look designed by Studio Toogood to connect the spaces together. The ground floor will carry beauty, the first floor
top-end luxury product, and the second floor will be skewed towards more youth-oriented product.

Gender-themed music, photography and film will feature in-store and the initiative will also be taken to stores in Manchester and Birmingham as well as online, where product will
be featured on both male and female models.

Selfridges is well-known for being at the vanguard of retail trends, so does the arrival of its dedicated unisex apparel space mean gender-neutral space could make its way into
mainstream fashion retail?
Gender-Neutral Retail – Does it Have a Future?
Angela Rumsey 02.17.15

A MINDSET SHIFT
Selfridges creative director Linda Hewson says Agender is “not about harnessing a ‘trend’, but rather tapping into a mindset and acknowledging and responding to a cultural shift
that is happening now".

Store designers agree there is an idea here that runs deeper than trend alone. In parts of the US, attitudes towards ideas that were an issue 10 years ago such as androgyny and
gay marriage have shifted. “There's a lot less pressure on conformity of gender roles and having to wear typical gender-appropriate apparel,” says Ken Nisch, chairman of retail
design and brand strategy firm JGA.

“Gender-neutral is like the tip of an iceberg,” says Colin Melia, a creative director at London-based design consultancy HMKM. “It's an attitude of a generation that is coming
through. The boundaries in society are changing and there is a move away from individual ghettos.”

CAN GENDER-NEUTRAL GO MAINSTREAM?

When it comes to stores rather than consumer attitude, gender-neutral is already prevalent in merchandising practice at some levels of the market. “When the strength of the brand
overwhelms the issue of gender, brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren – because they’re lifestyle – merchandise gender together anyway,” says Nisch.

Categories where product is blended include footwear, personal care, body jewellery and unisex fragrance. Denim, footwear and casual brands and retailers, such as Converse,
Vans, Tilly’s and American Eagle Outfitters, which all target younger male and female customers, also blend gender distinctions in merchandising. Product is often displayed
together, male and female mannequins grouped together for a lifestyle positioning, and there is not any distinguishable difference between the men’s and women’s floor space.

The older the target consumer, however, the greater the gender skew towards more distinct male and female, and for store designers the issue of navigation in mainstream retail
and established behaviours remains uppermost in mind.

“Traditional behaviours dictate that women, and to a greater extent men, need to know where they are in the space. They need to know that the product on offer is 'for them' and
they can browse with confidence,” says David Dalziel, group creative director of brand and retail design agency Dalziel & Pow, which has worked with retailers including
Primark and Debenhams.

“Androgynous fashion has yet to hit the high street with any impact. The introduction of curated lifestyle offers within brands such as J Crew and Urban Outfitters help blur the
boundaries between the genders, with the neutral offer acting as a buffer between the genders but, importantly, that buffer still exists,” he adds.

Urban Outfitters American Eagle Outfitters

Ralph Lauren Harvey Nichols' his or hers website page

Gender-Neutral Retail – Does it Have a Future?
Angela Rumsey 02.17.15

From a navigational point of view, Selfridges' introduction of gender-neutral gives its customers 'a third filter' alongside ‘by men’ and ‘by women’, says Jeff Kindleysides, owner
of UK retail design consultancy Checkland Kindleysides, whose clients include Hunter and New Look. “It's something a department store like Selfridges can do, because it has
the stock and space available but, given the practicalities, that may halt any kind of rush towards gender-neutral [in the mainstream].”

There are also limitations on the economic viability of a gender-neutral offer. Selfridges’ Agender is understood to be a response to female customers starting to buy from
menswear brands and the ranges themselves becoming more genderless – something department store Harvey Nichols picked up on with its his or hers curated online page,
launched last September. For mainstream fashion retailers the appeal of gender-neutral is likely to hit a wall.

“[Gender-neutral] might be something everyone has to have an element of but as a business model it won't work beyond a certain point because the appeal will be narrow,”
adds Kindleysides.

INFLUENCE ON STORE DESIGN

Retailers will be watching Agender closely to see if Selfridges in some small way adopts genderless space after the three-month trial is over, but there is no doubt the retailer has
tapped into an idea and behaviour that is manifesting itself in other ways in store design.

“The influence of a more open attitude is coming through,” says Dalziel. “In the last year our work for KappAhl in Scandinavia has created a more fluid plan, where shoppers flow
from space to space, crossing between the gender divide without consciously doing it. This brand sells 50% of its menswear to women buying for men so the intertwining of the
offer is perfectly natural and appropriate.”

It is a trend taking place across markets, with sight lines being cleaned up around the floor area and space being de-cluttered to the point of sparseness, such as at Hobbs’
London flagship.

In smaller-scale boutiques and in lifestyle offers the demarcation relaxes tremendously, notes Dalziel. “Spaces are typically more intimate, customers more engaged, more willing
to browse, and navigation more intuitive. In these niche locations gender barriers and stereotypes can break down, such as a brand boutique like James Perse in Manhattan and
Los Angeles.”

It is this more open way to shop and more flexible approach to customer boundaries that will resonate most with mainstream retailers as they look to deepen engagement with
customers. The change in consumer attitude is a permanent shift and retailers that embrace an 'everyone is welcome' approach that enables discovery find themselves aligned
with new consumer expectations.

Gap Katy has a Loft

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)